Amman- 20 March 2019
On Tuesday, March 19, 2019, in the presence of HRH Princess Dana Firas, the President of the board at Petra National Trust, and the President of the German Jordanian University (GJU), Prof. Manar Fayyad, the Center for Study of the Natural Cultural Heritage (CSNCH) at GJU organized a special meeting to present the current status and proposed interventions for the project “Restoration of the Ancient Nabataean Flood Control System in Wadi Madras at Petra”.
The meeting was attended by Vice President of GJU, Prof Atef Kharabsheh and stakeholders President of the Board of Commissioners at Petra Development & Tourism Region Authority, Dr. Sulaiman Farajat, Acting Director General of the Department of Antiquities Mr. Yazeed Alayan, representatives from PNT, UNESCO, the US Embassy GIZ, Sela, and team members.
Fayyad welcomed the attendees, stating that GJU is an applied sciences oriented university, where it consider supporting the community’s problems with scientific research to create the best solutions.
At the meeting, the team members Dr. Nizar Abu Jaber, Dr. Qasem Abdelal, and Dr. Catrina Hamarneh conducted presentations on the outlines of the project, the aims, and activities.
In addition, they explained the Hydrological Model for Wadi Al Hraimieh, besides the status and proposed interventions in the area. They indicated the advantages and disadvantages of the three proposed interventions.
A discussion followed the presentations where all stakeholders affirmed the support to the project, offering the knowledge and expertise to reach for the best solutions, considering the flash floods events that happened in the area recently.
All parties agreed on conserving the character and the heritage of the area beside securing sustainability, training, and raising awareness among the local community to the importance of landscape management and protection.
